Thank you so much for all your beautiful words of support after tonight’s episode. I have read every one. Thank you for the love for our lost loved ones. From the bottom of my heart thank you @bbceastenders and your entire cast for your bravery and dedication to this storyline 💔

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Michael Hogan said it was “popular television at its most relevant and powerful”.

“The drama was stripped back and restrained, rightfully allowing reality to take the focus,” he said.

He praised both Strictly’s Davood Ghadami, who played Shakil’s brother Kush, and Bonnie Langford, who played his mother Carmel – saying the former was “unshowily excellent” and the latter “downright devastating”.

It was, he wrote, “a triumphant tribute to lives lost senselessly and a plea for sanity to be restored”.

‘Undeniably difficult’

In Digital Spy, Sophie Dainty said the scenes may have been an EastEnders first – but that they were also “some of the most emotional in the soap’s history”.

She wrote that it was “an undeniably difficult watch”, especially where the actors and victims’ families shared the screen.

“This was a tear-jerking, traumatic reminder that knife crime is happening everywhere, in different ways, to different people – and that this is far, far more than a soap story,” she said.

Davood said on Twitter that he was “so grateful” for the “bravery and strength” of the contributors.

Just watched the incredibly moving special episode of @bbceastenders – hats off for tackling an extremely difficult & emotive issue in innovative way. Hope it helps get such an important message across Gx

Thank you so much for this amazing episode. As someone who lost her brother to knife crime this was handled absolutely perfectly and my heart goes out to the real families that took part. Lots of love to you all ❤️